Description
Book SynopsisLong claimed to be the dominant conception of practical reason, the Humean theory that reasons for action are instrumental, or explained by desires, is the basis for a range of worries about the objective prescriptivity of morality. As a result, it has come under intense attack in recent decades. A wide variety of arguments have been advanced which purport to show that it is false, or surprisingly, even that it is incoherent. Slaves of the Passions aims to set the record straight, by advancing a version of the Humean theory of reasons which withstands this sophisticated array of objections. Mark Schroeder defends a radical new view which, if correct, means that the commitments of the Humean theory have been widely misunderstood. Along the way, he raises and addresses questions about the fundamental structure of reasons, the nature of normative explanations, the aims of and challenges facing reductive views in metaethics, the weight of reasons, the nature of desire, moral epistemology,
Trade Reviewrefreshingly sincere...Schroeder should be praised for paying unprecedented attention to the formal structure of all the standard Humean and ant-Humean arguements, and illuminating the foggier corners of the debate * Constantine Sandis, Times Literary Supplement *
inventive, and deserving of attention. * A. W. Price, Philosophy *
Table of Contents1. Reasons and the Humean Theory ; 2. Background Conditions ; 3. Incoherence and Chauvinism ; 4. Reduction of the Normative ; 5. Too Many Reasons ; 6. Too Few Reasons ; 7. Weighting for Reasons ; 8. Desire ; 9. Motivation, Knowledge, and Virtue ; 10. Instrumentalism ; 11. Why Be Humean?
